Enhanced photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue and methyl orange using biogenic ZnO NPs synthesized via Vachellia nilotica (Babool) leaves extract
Komal Gupta, Basudha Sharma, Vijay Kumar Garg, Pashupati Pratap Neelratan, Vikas Kumar, Deepak Kumar, Sanjeev K. Sharma
Abstract
Biogenic zinc oxide (b-ZnO) NPs were synthesized via the leaf extract of Vachellia nilotica (Babool) due to their rich source of bioactive complexes, which have great potential as a reliable, sustainable, and eco-friendly system. Sharp peaks in the XRD pattern of b-ZnO NPs confirmed the hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure. The crystallite size, D, of b-ZnO, decreased from 22.22 nm to 10.13 nm, and the lattice strain (τ) increased from 5.22 × 10−3 to 11.47 × 10−3 as the material changed from synthetic to biogenic, respectively. The Eg of b-ZnO was observed to be 3.37 eV. The specific surface area, total pore volume and average pore diameter of ZnO and b-ZnO NPs were increased from 9.5 to 34 m2/g, 0.3536–0.3854 cm3/g, and 17.24–19.56 nm, respectively. The photocatalytic degradation of b-ZnO increased from 72% to 80% for MO dye, from 87% to 93% for MB dye and completely degraded MB within 2h. This work presents an essential advancement towards achieving enhanced photocatalytic performance to reduce water pollutants using b-ZnO and will guide the use of biogenic nanomaterials for photocatalytic applications.